Design Wall Monday

I got up early this morning, took the picture of my design wall, did some work for Wednesday's Bras for a Cause and then sat down to type out this post. I went to download the picture and couldn't find the cord to go between the camera and laptop. I searched for a while and then the phone rang. Well, about a dozen calls and lunch later, I remembered where I put the cord. So, here's the picture finally.

A couple of months ago, I spent some time checking my stash for some cheddar fabric because I love it decided to make something with it. I started pulling all that I had and then played around with how I wanted to use it. I couldn't think of a better way to use it than in something simple like rail fence blocks. I've been making these blocks as leaders and enders for a while and this is only a handfull of what I have. I cut some of the background blocks last night and put this up on the wall because I'm excited to start working on this in earnest. The blocks will finish 4.5", even though I really thought about making them finish 3." I know I want this to be pretty big, and even though I love these fabrics, I'm afraid something would come up that really needed done or that I'd get bored and this would end up being a UFO.  

I really want to call this Cheese and Crackers. Do you understand why? I told a couple of people the proposed name and they didn't get it or think it was fun. I had to explain the logic (cheddar-colored fabric - the cheese- and the background fabric looks like it has wheat sprigs on it, thus the crackers. What do you think? 

The quilts that I had posted on last week's design wall and the previous week's design wall Mondays are all ready for quilting. YEAH!!! I'm hoping to get those done before Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed! I'll keep you posted.

Thanks to everyone who played along with the giveaways the past three weeks. I had lots of fun with it. Keep checking back because I'm already getting things together for a Thanksgiving giveaway!

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls together. Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Stash Report - Weeks 43 and 44

Not a lot of sewing was done this week but that's ok. I had a wonderful time with Quinn and Sadie and that certainly makes up for little to no sewing!

I'm headed back to the mall for Bras for a Cause today (last day until we move the display to the Girls' Night Out location Tuesday morning - YEAH!!). I'll be there until a little after 6pm  and when I get home I have a cookie order for the bank. It's only 4 dozen so it won't take long and THEN I'm going to sew and watch some football.

I'm kind of a sports junkie I guess because I love to watch baseball, softball, volleyball and football. I don't really enjoy basketball, boxing or wrestling. I can watch some socer but not a lot. I enjoy tennis, gymnastics and just about any other sports; and I especially like to be hand stitching binding while watching sports. Now, I just have to get a quilt to that stage and I'll be all set. I guess that I'll be working on some hexagons tonight.  :-)  Maybe I'll use the machine Monday, since I don't think I have anything on the schedule - yet.

Ok, here't the report:

Fabric Added This Week: 0.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 182.875yards
Fabric Used This Week: 6.00 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 351.250 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 168.375 yards

UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 11
UFOs Still to Do: ??? (Why do I even bother putting this on the list?)
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 32
Quilts Ready to be Quilted and Bound: 10
Quilts Quilted and Ready to be Bound: 1

Check out how other quilters are doing with their stash usage.

Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Tired!

I spent a good part of today (noon -9pm) at the mall with the Bras for a Cause and even though I did nothing but talk, I'm tired. Who knew that talking could be so tiring? I talked to a lot of people today and I'll be doing the same tomorrow because I'll be there from about 11-6. We're also selling tickets for the Harley motorcycle so when the people working that table had to go to the restroom or whatever, I manned both tables. It was pretty easy to sell tickets for the bike and then have the people spend a dollar or two on the bras also, so I didn't really mind being there by myself. For those of you that don't know me, I really don't have trouble talking to complete strangers, so talking to them about the Mardi Bra or Zee-Bra is kind of fun.  :-)

I saw a lot of people I know and haven't seen for a while and that was fun; but I also met a lot of new people. I always find it interesting and fun when you meet someone and realize that you either have a mutual friend or some other connection. I met a woman this evening who said she wasn't from the area and when I asked her where she lived, she said southern Ohio. I told her I went to school in Vandalia and she laughed and said she lives in Tipp City but spent a lot of her youth in Vandalia at her grandparent's house. I love it when that happens!

I didn't have an opportunity to take more pictures because I was pretty busy all day (talking, remember?). I'll try tomorrow or Tuesday after the display is set up for Girls' Night Out at Kalahari. Although I really like being part of organizing this event, I'll be glad when it's is over because I'll be able to get back to some sewing.

I think I'll head upstairs and read a bit before going to bed. Goodnight.

Bras at the Mall

I spent most of the day at the Sandusky Mall manning the Bras for a Cause display. Here's a quick look at the display from a side angle. The public is being invited to donate $1 and vote for their favorite bra. The first place winner will be awarded $400, 2nd place will get $200, and the 3rd place winner will receive $100.  The bras will be displayed all weekend and then move to Kalahari for Girls' Night Out Nov. 2nd where the winners will be announced and the bras will be sold by silent auction. All money received will benefit four area cancer service centers.

There are 43 bras on display here and I know of at least three more that will be "joining" the display at Girls' Night Out. Here are some pictures that show the bras a little bit better, but unfortunately they aren't good close-ups. I'm ging to try to get some close-ups tomorrow, but if I can't, I'll definitey have some after Wednesday's event.

Some of these bras are so amazing that I just can't believe it. And, the names! Check out the bra in the top left corner of the first picture. The name of the bra is "Mrs. Darwin's Theory of Evolution." I'll tell you what, every woman that has seen that bra just laughs out loud about that. While we were setting up last night and before signs were up, a man stopped to check out what we were doing and he asked why that bra had legs. He was a bit embarassed when he realized what it was, but of course I've told that story to at least 100 people today.

I had a visitor today while I was manning the display.

She found a bra that she really liked and it's taller than her! It's hard to see the bra, but it's the mask covering the eyes of the pumpkin.

I'll be back tomorrow with more, but in the mean time, go to www.girlsnightoutcharity.com to see more pictures from last year's event.

Long Day

It sure has been a long day and even though Iv'e been busy all day long, it feels like I didn't get anything done. I think that's because most of the things I worked on today still need something done to them.  :-(

I started my day visiting a hospice patient at the veteran's home and very soon after getting home, I was on my way back to Sandusky to set up the Bras for a Cause at the mall. That took a lot longer than I had expected and of course, I have four more bras that have been delivered to me tonight. I guess that means that I'll have to do some rearranging tomorrow. I shouldn't complain. It could be worse. I could have no or very few bras to display.

I'll be spending most of my weekend at the mall with the display so I'm sure my posts will be late in the day, just like this one. Of course I forgot my camera today, so I'll take some tomorrow and be sure to post them within the next couple of days.

Off to do some work; including bake the cookies I need for tomorrow.

Wednesday Winner

Drum roll please......

The winner is...

quilary, who said...

I do like your UFO, so please persevere and write a pattern. Love the goodies in the giveaway - thanks for the chance :) The clips look much easier to use (and open) than the hair clips I use on my bindings!

Send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I'll get your prizes out ASAP.

Thanks for playing along everyone. I'll keep you posted on the pattern progress and I am working on a rather large giveaway for Thanksgiving, just because I can and I want to.  :-)

Happy Birthday Steven!!


Morning With Grandkids

Even though the morning is almost over we're really just starting our day here. Sadie woke up at about 6:05 this morning and I brought her in to our bed snuggle and play. She fell asleep at about 6:30 and slept for almost 1 1/2 hours! Of course by that time Quinn was stirring so she came in our bedroom also. We talked, laughed, read and just enjoyed a wonderful morning with two very special children. By 9:30 or so Quinn asked for something to eat, so she and Jack made pancakes and boy were they delicious! I'm not the only one to think that because Quinn at three of them, plus a banana and part of an apple. Sadie ate a whole pancake, some dry Cheerios, a banana and part of an apple. I'm amazed how much they can eat! Of course breakfast lasted a long time because we talked alot (at least Quinn did) and Jack and I just reaxed and enjoyed both girls.

The breakfast dishes are cleaned up, and Quinn is coloring while Sadie is ready for a nap.

Life is good!

You still have time to enter the giveaway. Click here for details.

Laundry, Binding, Playing

I really wanted to get a bunch of quilting done while Quinn and Sadie were with their other grandma today but of course I guilted myself into being responsible and taking care of housework before quilting.  :-(   As usual, one thing led to another and before I knew it, the girls were on their way back here.

Before they got here, I was able to layout the fish in the border of the cat and fish quilt and I got the binding sewn on the rest of the pumpkin placemats. They're ready to be hand-stitched down, which I decided could be done after the girls went to bed. I'm doing it now but took a break to write this post.

Isn't it funny how you can buy all kinds of expensive toys but kids like playing with simple things like boxes, dirt, and stones.

Maybe some quilting will get done next week.  :-)

Design Wall Monday and Blogtoberfest Giveaway #3

The fish quilt from last week did not get finished. :-( 

The fish are done but I didn't get them attached to the border yet and I've decided that it isn't going to get done this week because Sadie liked playing with them too much. She can't relly hurt them, so I figured that I'd just work on something else. Here's what I chose.

This is another UFO that is pretty darn close to being finished. I remember when I was working on this (not an actual date or anything, but just in general). This was maybe the second quilt that I made blindly - no pattern and no real idea of what I was doing. I must've been thinking about writing a pattern for this because I have all kinds of notes about cutting, piecing, pressing, etc. I also have notes about doing this in the exact opposite way (black background and colored stars). I really like this, especially the bright colors and pieced border so I think I'll evaluate this, finish it, and go ahead and write the pattern. I'll probably also make this with the black background because I found the stash of black to use. Besides, that will probably help me to write the pattern. (Good excuse, right?)  :-)   I'll keep you posted on the satus of that; but don't hold your breath because I have no idea when it will happen.

Now on to the giveaway. Here's what's up for grabs this week in my final blogtoberfest giveaway .

This week's winner will recieve:

1/2 yard of  Pat Sloan's Sweel Liberty by P & B Textiles

1/2 yard of Nancy Gere's Uncle Sam by Windham Fabrics 

1/2 yard of the red star fabric by Judie Rothermel by Marcus Brothers

Simply Patriotic pattern by Me (Joanne Hubbard)

1 package of 10 Wonder Clips by Clover

I'm excited about this giveaway! I used each of these fabrics in my 15 Honor Flight quilts and I really like them all and thought you might also. Since the fabric was patriotic I thought that the Simply Patriotic pattern was a perfect match. An finally, the Wonder Clips. I love these things! Here are some pictures of how I've used them.

  

And look how wide these clips open. Can we call them wide mouth clips? Open wide!

  

So how can you win, you ask?
Here's how; and you actually get three (3) chances to win!

1. Leave a comment on this post by 9:00pm Wednesday (10/26/11), when I'll randomly pick a winner. (That's my nephew Steven's birthday. Happy Birthday Steven!!)

2. Earn a second chance by posting about this giveaway on your blog (and link to this page), and post a second comment here.

3. The third entry can be earned by becoming a follower of this blog, and posting again that you are a follower. (If you are already a follower, just leave a post stating so.)

I've enjoyed hosting these giveaways and am already thinking about the future. I've got an idea for around Thanksgiving time and some for during the winter months, so be sure to check back frequently.  :-)

Check out this post to see about the Traveling Stash Giveaway hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Check out Patchwork Times to see what other quilters have on their design wall today. You just might find your next project!

Traveling Stash Giveaway

Have you heard of The Traveling Stash Giveaway? I hadn't until I read about it at Sarah's Confessions of a Fabric Addict blog.

This sounds like so much fun and even though I would really like to win and increase my chances by not telling you about it, I thought that was pretty selfish of me.  :-)

You've got to take some time and read about this. I really am amazed at the cleverness of quilters!  :-)

We're Home and Have Visitors

After a fun trip to Chicago to visit David, we returned home this evening and now have a couple of very special visitors. Can you tell that Sadie's really happy to be here? Ok, maybe it's me that's so happy she and Quinn are here.  :-)

Of course there was story time with Grandpa Jack before bed.

Oops. I think we're too late! I don't know if it was a boring story, Jack's melodious voice, or the fact that she had a very busy day.

Well, Sadie wasn't exactly thrilled when I took these fish away from her so I could put her to bed. She kept making this face and I couldn't stop laughing.

 

She's fast asleep now and didn't even fuss so she wasn't too upset. Maybe playing with these pumpkin placemats will make her happy and she'll forget about the fish. I think I'll wait to put the fish on this quilt until after the girls go home. I guess that means I better figure what else I'm going to work on this week.

A Message From Our Sponsor...

We will return to our regularly scheduled blogging sometime this evening. Enjoy your day and don't forget that tomorrow is another giveaway, right here at Everyone Deserves a Quilt!

Road Trip!

We're off to Chicago! Yeah...

Enjoy your day. I know I will!

Don' forget about Monday's giveaway.

Friday Finish

I'm not completely done with these four placemats, but I will be very soon, maybe even tonight. Everything was done except the binding and that is an easy "ride in the car" or watch TV activity.



I decided to simply make the placemats and faces separate so that it could be like a game for the granddaughters, or anyone else that may need entertained while waiting for dinner.  :-)  As you can see in the picture below, the face pieces can be mixed and matched to do whatever you like. I think/hope this will be fun for the little ones.

  

The coordinating wall hanging is not quilted yet and since I'm not going to be able to sew until at least Sunday night (or even later since that's when the girls are coming and they're staying for a week), I don't see that getting done real soon. That's ok. I can still pin it up to the wall hanging that's there now, right? 

Go to Crazy Mom Quilts to check out what other quilters are finishing up today.

Wednesday Winner - A Day Late

Well, I picked the winner last night but was having computer issues and couldn't post the winner. ARGGGGGHHH

Here's the winner!

Gari!!!

Send me an e-mail with your mailing address and I'll get your prizes in the mail.
Oh, and let us know when we'll be seeing your canning jar quilt.  :-) 

Some people have said they can't find my e-mail address. If you got to "View My Complete Profile" it's there. In any case, it's n8qmp@yahoo.com   I know it's a strange looking e-mail, but it's my first ham radio call sign.

Pumpkins Beat Out the Fish

Yesterday I told you that I had decided I didn't have time to work on my fish so I started another project instead. (Excuses, excuses and definitely explains my UFO situation!) Well here's what I did yesterday and when I look at it, I realize that I probably would have had time to work on the fish. I think I just got excited about the pumpkins and since I'll have my granddaughters for a week, beginning Sunday, I knew I wanted to do this because I think they'll love it.  :-) 

I enlarged the blocks to 10.5" because I didn't really want to add an outside border of another print. I really wanted just a big pumpkin to hang in the dining room. I have to applique around the leaves and face pieces and then this puppy is ready to quilt!

I'm also making placemats. I still have to add the black sides and an outside border (which I haven't decided if I'm going to just add more black or another fabric). I'm not adding the faces to these. Instead I'm going to make the face pieces but not attach them so the girls can play and mix and match the pieces to make funny faces. I think/hope this will be good entertainment when I'm fixing dinner, working, etc. I think I'm going to add a small pocket to the back to store the faces. These are so darn cute!



Of course while I was working on these, I continued to make rail fence blocks as leader/enders. This is what I have so far.

Ok, I admit it.  I definitely could have had all my fish done and attached to the quilt. Admiting the problem or error of your ways is the first step.  :-)

The winner of the second weekly giveaway is tonight at 9:00. Go here to sign up to win some fun prizes!

Running

Not literally, but it sure does feel like it sometimes.

Today was a very busy day and tomorrow will probably be much the same. I was going to start working on the fish for this quilt, but decided that I really didn't have time. I didn't want to have to stop in the middle of a fish so I decided to work on something else. Now, you're probably thinking that I would work on one of my many UFOs. That would make sense and bring me closer to my goal of finishing up projects; but alas, I didn't work on one of them. Instead, I started working on the corner blocks for this Eleanor Burns quilt. Yes, it's a new project but it's small, easy and so darn cute. As usual, I made some changes and the blocks are bigger than what the patterns calls for.

By the time I had to leave this morning, the four blocks were almost done. I got home a little bit ago and I've finished the four corner blocks and I've started the remaining five orange log cabin blocks. Hopefully they'll be done tomorrow and I'll be able to post pictures before I have to leave. Now that I think about it, I probably could have gotten the fish done. Oh well, I'll work on them later.  :-)

Design Wall Monday and Giveaway #2

Feeling pretty good about finishing my oldest UFO, I went searching for another really old one and found this.

There really isn't a lot that needs done here. None of the fish are appliqued to the border yet and I need to finish the faces on 4 of the fish.

Then it's ready to be quilted and bound. I don't remember the name of this quilt, but I remember taking the class at an area quilt shop. (I'm going to have to search my box of patterns before I finish this so I can give proper credit!) The sample in the shop was smaller than this, and of course I wanted it bigger so I made more fish and cat blocks, changed the border and for some reason just stopped working on it, even though I was very close to completing the top. Well, it's going to get done here soon! I think my young granddaughters will love this.

I'm also making a bunch of "controlled scrappy" rail fence blocks as a leader/ender project. I need to make 168 of these for a project and they're great to work on along with another project.

After my Plaid for Dad quilt and this Cat and Fish quilt are done, I think I'll reward myself by working on this quilt exclusively. I'm excited about it and have come up with what I think is a really fun name that I'll share when I have this up on my design wall. I know, I know. That's not fair. I should just tell you now and not keep you in suspence. Well the truth is, I want to see the blocks up on the wall to make my final decision on the name. That's my incentive to get busy here. I'm really loving the fabrics in these blocks.

It's the second week of my giveaway as part of my blogtoberfest participation, and here's what you can win this time around. I decided to add a little something to the giveaway that I didn't show before - 4 fruit and vegetable related fat quarters. (Oops, I forgot to include the folding strawberry tote bag in the picture, but it goes along with the package.)

I decided to add the fabric because of the cookbook. A friend (Sandy Hooper) and I co-authored this cookbook in 2008 for my sister-in-law's Troy Mills Strawberry Farm in Willard Ohio. (Ok, honestly, Sandy did most of the work. I wrote a lot of the recipes, tried them of course, and passed them on to her to compile this wonderful book.) Beside the usual pies, cakes, jams, salads, etc. we've included various strawberry facts and a miscellaneous section that includes things like facial scrubs, exfoliants, etc. It's a fun cookbook and has some great recipes!

Here's a close-up of the Framed Rectangles patterns. As you can see (hopefully), there are 8 size options, all the way from toddler to king. There are also a couple of layout options and a pieced border option. I try to write patterns to include multiple size options because I know that not everyone wants to make a lap size or king size and then figuring the yardage for making the change is a pain. I know lots of quilters that just don't do it. They would rather not make the quilt than deal with the math. Of course, I've been known to offer to determine fabric requirements and layout changes that are needed to re-size a quilt. I just kind of like to do that. Weird, huh?

I love this pattern! This is the pattern I used for our 2011 Breast Cancer 3-Day Raffle Quilt, and I used it for one of the Honor Flight quilts (it's the 8th quilt down), and I made a small Christmas version to snuggle with this December. Since the original quilt was the raffle quilt and I love that quilt, I decided to make another version of it to keep just for little old me.  I'm changing the border a bit and I think this will be a wonderful spring or summer quilt. It's not done yet but I have some time before I want to use it   :-)

Getting back to the giveaway.

Here's how to enter (up to three entries per person - woo hoo):
1. Leave a comment on this post by 9:00pm Wednesday (10/19/11), when I'll randomly pick a winner.
2. Earn a second chance by posting about this giveaway on your blog (and link to this page), and post a second comment here.
3. The third entry can be earned by becoming a follower of this blog, and posting again that you are a follower. (If you are already a follower, just leave a post stating so.)

If I wasn't hosting this giveaway, I'd be entering all three times for sure! Remember, there's another giveaway next week that includes The Wonder clips, another pattern and a surprise. Be sure to check back to enter!

Check out Patchwork Times to see what other quilters have on their design wall today. You just might find your next project!

Stash Report - Week 42

Short and sweet report today as we got home late last night, slept in a bit, and are now leaving for brunch at a friend's house.  I bought fabric Friday, but all designated for specific projects. I'm realliy excited that 10 UFOs are DONE, DONE, and DONE (pieced, quilted and bound) and 31 new quilts are DONE, DONE, and DONE (yes that includes my Honor Flight quilts). Check out my other numbers below.

Fabric Added This Week: 8.00 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 182.875yards
Fabric Used This Week: 3.00 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 345.250 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 162.375 yards

UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 10
UFOs Still to Do: ??? (Why do I even bother putting this on the list?)
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 31
Quilts Ready to be Quilted and Bound: 9
Quilts Quilted and Ready to be Bound: 1

Check out how other quilters are doing with their stash usage.
Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Bake Sale

Guess what I did last night.

I baked for the Stein Hospice 2nd Annual Pet Expo Bake Sale! There are oatmeal raisin cookies, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, pecan tassies and a loaf of Italian White bread. Yummy!

Now, I'm off to see Mom!

John

It's so hard to believe that John  has been gone 4 years! Some days it feels like just yesterday I received that call. I know he's still with me in spirit and that he and Dad are always looking out for us, but it's still hard to believe. I miss you John!

John Henry Schwab....Nov. 10, 1954 - Oct. 14, 2007

Friday Finish

Crazy Mom Quilts has started a "Finish It Up Friday" series and I decided to join her. If nothing else, it will make me even more aware of what projects I have that are close to being done, that somehow got shoved aside for a new project. Even if I don't complete a project, I'll at least work on an old one for part of the day. Here's the top I did get finished today. The pattern is Plaid for Dad and I got it from the Oct./Nov. issue of Quilt Magazine. LOVE IT!!

Here's the backing, all ready to piece. I think it's perfect (except that I have to piece it), don't you?

I'm excited to get started on the quilting. I don't have any idea when that'll happen, but soon I hope.

Check out what other quilters have worked on today by clicking here. Enjoy!!

One Less Jar

Look what just happened!

I can't even remember the last time I had a jar break while I was canning. Of course this one broke as I was lifting it out of the water bath so the water is pretty disgusting. The good news is that I didn't burn myself and it happened on the last batch so I don't have to start all over and wait for the huge pot of water to come to a boil again. It's also good news that this wasn't tomato sauce because that would be really disgusting to clean up.

It looks like I might have some time to sew tonight and that makes me very happy!  :-)

How You Can Tell It's Fall

Instead of working with this,

I'm working with these.

This,

turns into this

and this.

Mmmmm, this apple sauce and apple butter will be tasty this winter, and I'll forget about my day of non-sewing.

Wednesday Winner

It's time to pick the first Wednesday Winner....

Is the suspense getting to you yet?

And the winner is....

Congratulations Diana. Send me an e-mail with your address and I'll get your gift in the mail.

Thanks for playing everyone and be sure to check back next week for the second giveaway.



Lots of Giveaways

I'm not the only one having giveaways this month!

Jenny is having an awesome celebration giveaway because she now has over 1500 followers! Check out what you could win!

Lots of blogtoberfest participants are having giveaways also, so check that out by clicking the Blogtoberfest button on the right sidebar.

I'll announce my winner a little later today. Good luck!

Done!

As I had hoped, I finished the binding on my Americana Pineapple quilt yesterday. It's going to take me a bit to get a good picture of the whole quilt because it's quite large, but hopefully I'll be able to do that soon.

This has re-inspired me to work on my UFOs. I've decided to rummage through the oldest ones and get working on them, rather than the more recent ones. Perhaps I need to concentrate on mixing them up a bit and work on an old one and then a newer one. I think that the reason many of the older UFOs are UFOs is because there is some sort of problem that I just didn't know how to fix. Hopefully I've learned a little over the past few years and can take on the challenge. That might mean that the quilt takes on a new look or ends up being smaller than originally planned, but it'll be done and someone will love it.

After the binding was done I wanted to continue working, but I didn't feel like working on the machine, so I pulled out some scrap fabrics to cut more pieces for my Tumbler quilt.

This isn't a very old UFO, but it's a UFO and hopefully we'll be seeing some progress soon. I think I now have enough tumblers cut to complete the top. (We'll see after these are added.) The last time I worked on this was the end of January when I was on retreat. It was the perfect project on which to work last night because we're still playing the waiting game about Mom and for those of you that know me, you know that waiting patiently is NOTone of my virtues.

Don't forget to post a comment on yesterday's blog to have a chance to win the first weekly giveaway for my blogtoberfest challenge. The winner will be picked tomorrow.

Design Wall Monday

I needed to find something rather mindless on which to work today so I chose my oldest UFO. I'm not excited about why I need to work on something mindless (Mom's in the hospital and we haven't gotten very good news), but I am excited about working on this quilt. It's technically not on my design wall, but since that's what I'm working on I'm posting about it today. I did put it up on the wall to get a picture but it's too big to fit properly so you you can't see the entire quilt, but you get the idea. This is a paper pieced pineapple block and was my first attempt at paper piecing. It's definitely not perfect, but I like it anyway.

This top had been done for a very long time (at least 7-8 years) and I had entertained the idea of hand-quilting it, but after it sat for so long, I knew that wouldn't be happening anytime soon so I had my friend Rachel quilt it for me. Now, she did that way back in August and I just never bound it. Well, last night I decided that I was going to get this quilt DONE, DONE, and DONE (pieced, quilted and bound). I pulled out the binding that I had made way back when and started attaching it to the quilt. Guess what happened? Can you see it in this picture?

Yep, I ran out of binding fabric! After a bit of panic, I remembered seeing some leftover fabric from this project when I was looking for fabric for my Honor Flight quilts, so the hunt was on. I went to the basement and found the tub with patriotic fabrics and sure enough, I had one extra strip of binding fabric cut to the correct size. I don't know why I didn't piece it in with the other strips, but I didn't. I'm guessing that I had intended to, but this lone strip was folded up in the leftover blue star fabric and I just didn't see it. Whatever happened doesn't matter, I'm just thrilled that I found the extra strip. It is now reunited with it's long-lost binding buddies, machine stitched to the quilt and ready to be hand-stitched down.

This is a big quilt, about 100" x 100", but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get this stitched down by the end of today. We're playing the waiting game with doctors to hear news about Mom and I don't do well with just sitting around so I think my nervous energy will help me gete this done. I've also pulled out my hexagons and they're ready to travel to Dayton with me when needed. Anyway, I'll let you know when the quilt is DONE, DONE and DONE.

On another note, as part of my blogtoberfest participation, I'm hosting the first of three weekly giveaways. This is what's up for grabs this week.

This charm pack, by Sandy Gervais for Moda is called Giddy and it's just beautiful. There are 42 - 5" squares in this pack and I just love them all. As a matter of fact, I used it in my Framed! quilt which I posted about here, along with a couple other versions of the same quilt. And speaking of Framed!, the winner of this week's giveaway will also receive a copy of that pattern. Here is a picture of the pattern cover and back. It's difficult to see, but there are five (5) size options and fabric requirements listed. The instructions also include an alternate border option.

 All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Wednesday and I'll randomly pick a winner. You can earn another chance by posting about this giveaway on your blog (and link to this page), and post a second comment here. A third chance can be earned by becoming a follower of this blog, and posting again that you are a follower. (If you are already a follower, just leave a post stating so.)

Be sure to check back next week to see what is being given away then.

Check out Patchwork Times to see what other quilters have on their design wall today. You just might find your next project!

Stash Report - Week 41

The machine was running a little bit this past week, but not with quilting projects.  :-(

Besides the homecoming sashes that needed done, the funeral home had some blankets that needed embroidered and those are usually time-sensitive so other things must be put aside to get them done. I have one more to do and that will get done this afternoon and delivered tomorrow. It's funny, but I can go for weeks without an order from them and then all of a sudden I'll have five or six to do in a couple of days.

I haven't even touched the quilt from last week's Design Wall Monday because I knew I would get going on it and want to continue and the only way that was going to happen was if I didn't sleep. (There was too much going on this week to not sleep.) Instead, I prepared the binding for my oldest UFO and that's the only fabric I used this week. One measly yard of fabric! At least the UFO will be done soon!

Now that I've told you about my non-sewing week, I'll tell you about my buying week. As I told you the other day, I attended Quilting with Machines the past few days and of course there were things to buy! I will say that even though I was tempted, I only bought what I needed for specific projects so I'm excited about that. I bought a kit from Sew Batik (Four Patch with Stars) and I'm excited to begin working on that. I know exactly where this quilt will end up and it will be easy to work on as a leader/ender project. I bought a couple more brown and teal fabrics for Lynn and Ty's quilt, and I also got the extra tuxedo black batik spray fabric from Sew Batik that I needed for a couple of projects. Oh yea, I got new backing for my Glacier Star quilt because there is an extension to make this bigger and I'll be doing that, of course. With the extension, the quilt will finish about 90" x 90" and that is just about right for what I wanted. It's funny how I was putting off getting this quilted because I was playing around with adding borders that would "fit" with the rest of the design and then Judy Niemeyer did it for me. See, it's not always bad to be slow. :-)

I've taken the blogtoberfest challenge and have been posting every day so far this month. I know for many of you that isn't a problem, but posting consistency is not my strong point so I decided to work really hard on it. Keeping myself motivated to post, I decided to have a weekly giveaway. Check out this post to see the details. The first giveaway is this Wednesday! Pictures and details (giveaway and entry) will be posted tomorrow. I hope you play along.  :-)

Here's the report:

Fabric Added This Week: 16.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 174.875 yards
Fabric Used This Week: 1.00 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 342.250 yards
Net Fabric Used for 2011: 167.375 yards

UFOs Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 9
UFOs Still to Do: ??? (Why do I even bother putting this on the list?)
New Quilts Done, Done, Done (Pieced, Quilted, and Bound): 30
Quilts Ready to be Quilted and Bound: 10
Quilts Quilted and Ready to be Bound: 3

Check out how other quilters are doing with their stash usage. Go to Judy L.'s Patchwork Times.

Read other Blogerfest Sunday Snippets here.

Giveaways

Here's a picture of what I'll be giving away during blogtoberfest.

The picture isn't the greatest and I see that I forgot to put the fabric that goes with the strawberry cookbook DUHHH.

Anyway, each Monday for the rest of the month, a picture will be posted with the giveaway for that week and some information about the items will be provided. I will welcome comments about the items (here's your chance to be a product reviewer!), recommendations, etc. Be sure to make your comments Monday and Tuesday because on Wednesday I will pick a winner and send one lucky person that week's package. Wooo Hooo!! All you have to do to enter is to comment on my Monday post. It's that simple!

Let the fun begin!!!

What Do You Think?

Do we look like we could have some serious fun? This group was teaching/working at Quilting with Machines by day and partying by night! Do you see Pam Clark and Irena Bluhm peeking around to be seen in the picture, or were they trying to hide?

Dinner was delicious and we had lots of laughs. Back to work early tomorrow.